hi everyone
New to this forum , Hello All -am delighted it exists! Bit about me and my dogs.  I am the proud owner of  my Jaunty Jack Russell Indy - a 2 year bitch, and my newbie Lollopy Lab  -6 month old cream labrador boy - Wilbur.
A bit about me - I have been mad about animals since the day I was born, am lucky enough to have had cats and horses all my life (Im 46). BUT - I always wanted a dog, so 2 years ago, I fell in love with a Jack Russell pup - born in Argentina (where I now live, but at the time was on my one of my many trips). Indy is now 2 years old - she has travelled with me everywhere, UK, Argentina, Switzerland (where I used to live), and back again. When I got her, I was working full time in Switzerland so she had a very early experience of socialisation and different packs - as she was with 3 dog sitters in the first 18 months I had her. Not ideal but she thrived and is THE most amazing Jack ever. She is full of beans, can wrap me around her little finger as I swear she can do more facial expressions than I can, but has NEVER bitten, snapped or shown any of the 'classic  difficult Jack' traits apart from very high intellect & energy. She is amazing around kids, people & other dogs. 5 months ago, I finally moved to Argentina and set up my own business - and now I have a house with a huge garden, and wanting a 'Guard dog' - i.e. a bigger animal, that may intimidate intruders - I ended up falling in love with the ultimate guard dog.....ummm... a wonderful, loving, silly daft , funny Lab - Wilbur.  (at least he's big ;-)) Forgive the ramble but felt a little context may help. Wilbs is a typical Lab - where Indy knows EXACTLY what is being asked of her, she kinda knows how far to push things - Wilbs just is happy happy happy and ....VERY enthusiastic, clumsy, big, and noisy. And herein lies my 'problem'.

Wilbur is a wonderful boy - but as all  pups,  loves to play. He is now a pretty big boy, and although very well socialised with other dogs (Indy keeps him in line -and he has been surrounded by new dogs since a very young age) , pretty good on recall and basic commands - I have a problem with strangers kids. This came to a head today - Wilbur has been around kids (I don't have any kids myself, but he has had a lot of exposure to children of all ages who have grown up with and love big, crazy, bouncy dogs). I was (apparently trespassing) on our usual walk by a lake (Wilbur - Lab - water - his idea of heaven) - when the property owners kids turned up on the other side of the lake (girl around 7, boy around 5 ) and told me I was on private property - CUE : Wilbur - dived into lake to swim off to happily meet his new 'friends'...am sure I don't have to go into details but suffice to say - wet big dog, jumping on 2 screaming kids,  happy happy happy (dog - not the kids!) knocking one of them clean to the floor in the process, me on other side of lake trying to tell the kids to stay calm (my Spanish is VERY limited) Wilbur did swim back to me, but - looooong story short, went to property owners house, apologised & checked kids all intact (she was a superstar - very gracious and understanding ....even when  I backed my car into her car port- but WHOLE other story!).

So, please, any advice on how I can I can avoid situations like this when 1. I have no kids, 2. the kids who are around Wilbur know dogs and love his silly old antics, 3. Speak limited Spanish, so find it difficult to react immediately in such situations, 4. Although Wilbur doest jump up on me - other adults 'praise him ' for this and finally 4 - in Argentina,we have masses of land and its a wonderful place for dogs (they are everywhere) and really don't want to have to keep him on the leash. As context - nobody here puts their dog on a lead, male dogs are invariably intact, and most people are used to dogs - many stray, but most have their own for guard / warning dog purposes. Apologies for the absurdly long post having been used to a smaller dog, who doesn't scare kids due to her amazingly sweet nature (and small stature), how do I control my equally loving but big and boisterous Lab around kids who are terrified?
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Have it got this right.
You are now living in Argentina
You have a 6 month old Lab who is good around other dogs and people
The incident revolves around your Lab going into another persons lake/pond on their land and when the landowners children came out he ran over to them and knocked one over - was this due to his size and being boisterous?

Maybe see if the household who own it would allow you to use it at set times when the kids aren't around.
Also see if they want to join in, he might be better when meeting them in a different setting.

I'm not a behaviourist so I should really leave that to others but that's what I would start looking at providing there is no malice in him.

As sue said I am am not a behaviourist either but have had dogs for years.labs are boisterous and big and he is young too. I think the first thing to address is the jumping.not easy I know but  can u get others to help you.first get sit really secure .second he only ever says hello when he sits.the idea being a dog can't easily sit and jump . make sure anyone who comes to your door doesn't look or touch him until he is sitting and as soon as he jumps they turn and ignore.this is why you need tame humans to help.maybe these children you have just met would enjoy helping ? Once he knows to say hello and get a treat as I guess he is foodie.once hr us getting the hang if this in a controlled situation is your home move to other situations. A doh needs to practice all things in loads of different places to really get it.its called generalisation. The other thing to get really solid is the recall.  Its a work in practice and I am sure you will have a lively dog. Can u also go to training classes ? Explain to them what you need especially and make sure the classes are positive training no ceasar Milan type harsh methods.

The other way to practice sits is that he heys nothing until he sits .eg dinner he must sit and wait before he gets it. he must sit and wait then get a treat if he wants to go outside or come in am so on. Maybe a couple of seconds of sit and wit ( that's two new commands ) while you pop the kettle on .really in force you don't get anything until u sit

Look up the post on recall. He needs to have a good recall to avoid it happening again. I have had Labs in the past and they are big, boisterous idiots. Training on recall will solve the problem

My girl still jumps . It is very tiresome, really good rule is no attention till 4 paws on the floor! So boring but it it is repetition yawn! It helps if everyone is on board, the worst is our neighbour who adores her and they go hectic on each other. Undoes a lot of work but she soon gets back on board. BTW they do love structured training. My one thrives on it doesn't have to be long. 10 mins every 2 hours is plenty. It will tire her too. But make it fun hiding treats, her latest one is finiSh, she does the English and German type. She is so clever! Stick with it enjoy and most of all  enjoy it!

Yep its wonderful when someone ignores you and undoes all your hard work :)

thank you all so much for the great advice. The `sit`I will definitely try as he is very good at this comamnd - always has to sit before eating and any treat! Great advice. The recall also needs work - he is generally good but as soon as there is something very exciting it can take a while. I totally hear you re: friends etc  undoing all the good work - it can be difficult and as I don't speak Spanish very well - VERY difficult.
I have gone back to basics and have already seen a change in 24 hours!  He's a big boy,  and having had a small Jack, I tend to forget he is still a very young pup with lots to learn. I love the idea of involving the neighbours kids as well. THANK YOU everyone - and apologies for the length and confusion of original post  :-)